Forrest Griffin retires at age 33

The sport of MMA got a little less entertaining this weekend after affable UFC light heavyweight Forrest Griffin surprised the community by announcing he’d decided to hang his gloves up for good. The 33-year old hadn’t fought in a little over a year, citing continued injury issues as one of the primary reasons behind the move.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned is that when Dana White says retire, you should retire. Two of my last three fights, I’ve pulled out due to injury,” said Griffin at the UFC post-event press conference. “If you think about it, how many fights can you pull out of before you become an unsecure product?”

As far as what’s next for Griffin, he explained his interest in sticking around the sport even if he won’t necessarily be competing.

“The UFC does a lot of charity stuff locally and for the troops. I’ve always said that I’m going to volunteer, but I’ve always had to train for [a] fight, so I [said I would] do it later. Well, now is later,” offered Griffin on his immediate future.

White also confirmed Griffin and Stephan Bonnar would be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in July during the Fan Expo attached to UFC 162. As fans undoubtedly remember, Bonnar and Griffin faced off at the original Ultimate Fighter Finale in a tremendous tilt credited for helping launch the UFC’s rise to the organization’s current status as the global entity.

Griffin walks away from the Octagon with a 19-7 career mark in the ring including a brief stint as divisional king. Among the notable victories notched on his record are those over Quinton Jackson, Mauricio Rua, and Tito Ortiz.

It sucks, but it wasn’t that surprising once his knee injury got pushed back another yr. And for Forrest being 33 but not looking it, I’m always amazingly surprised at how young Big Nog is, dude looks 70

for health reasons i’m glad, as always its a shame not to see a retirement fight from him, however it would most likely end in embarresment, awkwardness or another KO not in his favor. Hopefully he did enough to secure a good future for himself